This module has been my favourite I have tackled this year, I have enjoyed all the modules but this one sticks out as it has contained more of the content I really enjoy. Coming up with ideas and turning them through a design process into two finished prototypes. I took two different approaches when designing the two projects, my music app was very much targeted at a niche audience, people with a very specific taste in music. In contrast I designed my dashboard to be for as many people as possible, a calm colour palette, easy to read typography and an easy to understand layout. I really enjoyed this variety and the different considerations that came with each project.

I have also learnt a lot of new skills through this module, looking at how to use illustration and all the different types available, from icons (something I would have previously not considered as illustrative), through photography, hand-drawn and skeuomorphic (a term I had not came across before). I had a very narrow view on what illustration meant, and this module has opened my eyes to the fact that there is so many different forms illustration can take. I have also learned how to use the different types of illustration effectively in digital design, deciding on the most appropriate type and how the right illustration can enhance a product while the wrong one can damage it. It is also interesting to think that illustration styles go through phases with different styles becoming a trend and then being replaced with a different style. Through the research I completed for this module the current trend seems to be for micro-animations and motion, I have noticed this recently when my Ulster Bank app got a large visual update and a lot of icons that were static have now had motion added to them. I have to say it has improved the user experience of the app and made it more pleasant to use. This is something I would like to explore further and add more of in my own designs.

The second project of the module was a more diagrammatic project looking at data visualisation. We all know that there is an awful lot of data being collected online, in banking, even by our own devices. The argument about data collection goes much beyond the scope of this module, but the thing about data is in truth without context and attaching some sort of meaning to the data its worthless. For our own project, collecting data about ourselves this is very clear the amount of sleep I get over a week is just a string of numbers, however by placing it on a line chart, it shows how it fluctuates day to day and if I carried on collecting data I could look for patterns and develop theories on, why this might be the case and could it be improved. Visualising Data and using those visualisations to tell the narrative from the data are key skills organisations need, you can see everywhere the need to have data put in a way that a majority of people can take the meaning from the data. I found this project really interesting, deciding how to present each piece of data I collected, so it could be best understood and meaning could be inferred.

When it came to designing my dashboard I really enjoyed the thought process of how to layout the data I had in a visually appealing way that maintained usability. I was really happy with my design as I feel it takes in a lot of important aspects of design, discoverability, affordances and signifiers (Can you tell I am reading Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things??). I like a project where I have to take in a lot of different considerations and try to balance them all, to create a final piece that covers as many as possible, this can mean making compromises, but the process of deciding where to make compromises is one I find intriguing and challenging and this is why I chose to do this course, to solve problems in the most effective way. While these two projects may not have been world-changing problems, they still required thought and consideration to get the best final result.

There is no doubt I still have a lot to learn in design terms, but I do feel my work has taken significant leaps forward to where it was at the beginning of the semester. I have taken away many things, one of the main takeaways is the importance of laying out a structure for a screen at the start and using a grid to get proper alignment. I have spent far too long going back over screens the past week and correcting alignment, simply by not setting up a proper grid structure at the beginning. It is learning like this that will help me throughout my career, knowing this will help me streamline my design process and speed up the time it takes to go from idea to paper to digital prototype. I have also taken on-board the usefulness of sketching as not just something we are told to do but as a genuine way of translating ideas in my head onto paper and testing whether they are viable.

I think my key takeaway from this module is how I am starting to develop a design process, that is repeatable and fits within the theoretical processes we have looked at. I am seeing the benefits of a process and how that relates to improving my designs. I also find thinking about the need to justify design decisions is a huge help, as once you think in that way, you can quickly weed out the ideas that do not stand up to scrutiny.

I look forward to continuing this learning experience over the rest of my course and doing more sketching in future modules and pushing the boundaries a bit more.